Sgt. Pepper 50th Anniversary Remix & Rerelease

I was hoping this would happen, and here it is! A full album remix from the 1st generation four-track tapes. And more:

CD 1
(Sgt. Pepper 2017 Stereo Mix)
1. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
2. "With A Little Help From My Friends"
3. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
4. "Getting Better"
5. "Fixing A Hole"
6. "She's Leaving Home"
7. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!"
8. "Within You Without You"
9. "When I'm Sixty-Four"
10. "Lovely Rita"
11. "Good Morning Good Morning"
12. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
13. "A Day In The Life"


CD 2
(Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates)
1. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 1]
2. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 4]
3. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 7]
4. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 26]
5. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Stereo Mix - 2015]
6. "When I'm Sixty-Four" [Take 2]
7. "Penny Lane" [Take 6 – Instrumental]
8. "Penny Lane" [Vocal Overdubs And Speech]
9. "Penny Lane" [Stereo Mix - 2017]
10. "A Day In The Life" [Take 1]
11. "A Day In The Life" [Take 2]
12. "A Day In The Life" [Orchestra Overdub]
13. "A Day In The Life" (Hummed Last Chord) [Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11]
14. "A Day In The Life" (The Last Chord)
15. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" [Take 1 – Instrumental]
16. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" [Take 9 And Speech]
17. "Good Morning Good Morning" [Take 1 - Instrumental, Breakdown]
18. "Good Morning Good Morning" [Take 8]


CD 3
(Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates)
1. "Fixing A Hole" [Take 1]
2. "Fixing A Hole" [Speech And Take 3]
3. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" [Speech From Before Take 1; Take 4 And Speech At End]
4. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" [Take 7]
5. "Lovely Rita" [Speech And Take 9]
6. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Take 1 And Speech At The End]
7. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Speech, False Start And Take 5]
8. "Getting Better" [Take 1 - Instrumental And Speech At The End]
9. "Getting Better" [Take 12]
10. "Within You Without You" [Take 1 - Indian Instruments Only]
11. "Within You Without You" [George Coaching The Musicians]
12. "She's Leaving Home" [Take 1 – Instrumental]
13. "She's Leaving Home" [Take 6 – Instrumental]
14. "With A Little Help From My Friends" [Take 1 - False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
15. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" [Speech And Take 8]


CD 4
(Sgt. Pepper and bonus tracks in Mono)
1-13: 2017 Direct Transfer of Sgt. Pepper Original Mono Mix
14. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Original Mono Mix]
15. "Penny Lane" [Original Mono Mix]
16. "A Day In The Life" [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
17. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Unreleased Mono Mix - No. 11]
18. "She's Leaving Home" [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
19. "Penny Lane" [Capitol Records U.S. Promo Single - Mono Mix]


DISCS 5 & 6
(Blu-ray & DVD)
Audio Features (both discs):
- New 5.1 Surround Audio mixes of 'Sgt. Pepper’ album and “Penny Lane,” plus 2015 5.1 Surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby True HD 5.1 / DVD: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1)
- High Resolution Audio versions of 2017 'Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix and 2017 “Penny Lane” stereo mix, plus 2015 “Strawberry Fields Forever” hi res stereo mix (Blu-ray: LPCM Stereo 96KHz/24bit / DVD: LPCM Stereo)
Video Features (both discs):
- The Making of Sgt. Pepper [restored 1992 documentary film, previously unreleased]
- Promotional Films: "A Day In The Life;" "Strawberry Fields Forever;" "Penny Lane" [4K restored]

Still no Carnival Of Light…but I guess that's not really a Pepper track.

-Dave-

re-mix? Really? Why do they do that?

Walter Broes said:

re-mix? Really? Why do they do that?

Click to expand...

Milkin' the cow?

Walter Broes said:

re-mix? Really? Why do they do that?

Click to expand...

Even the first gen vinyls are subject to the hazards of age, let alone the increasing scarcity and cost of good playback methods.
Then the first gen digital mixes were frequently rushed to market and were notoriously inferior to the best analog pressings, to audiophiles, anyway.
I have a buddy who got a previous remaster of it he raves about it, that elements that were previously pretty well buried in the mix are finally brought forward.
Myself, I'm on the fence about it.
I got remastered copies of "Axis Bold As Love" and "Beckola" in the last year and both of 'em had the bass boosted, which I always looked for when I was a teenager, the bass was never loud enough.
But it seemed to be at the expense of vocals and drums.
And I'm sure it's one more way to entice buyers who might otherwise yawn at all the outtakes and not bother buying.
Meanwhile real hardcore fans can find out exactly what they were doing 50 years ago today, they hadn't even finished mixing Pepper's yet:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/04/06/mixing-sgt-pepper-crossfades-good-morning-good-morning/
Expanded details there, too:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/2017/04/05/beatles-sgt-pepper-50th-anniversary-edition/

The original stereo version of Pepper—and all other Beatles releases in stereo prior to The Beatles) was an afterthought—so you can argue it's never been properly mixed for stereo before now (apart from A Day In The Life on the Beatles 1+ video release a couple years ago). And the existing mix consists primarily of bounce-downs (multiple generations of "reduction mixes") rather than first-gen sources. So I welcome this new one. The original stereo is still around anyway, though I'd recommend the mono mix to anyone wanting authenticity.

-Dave-

adorshki said:

Even the first gen vinyls are subject to the hazards of age, let alone the increasing scarcity and cost of good playback methods.
Then the first gen digital mixes were frequently rushed to market and were notoriously inferior to the best analog pressings, to audiophiles, anyway.
I have a buddy who got a previous remaster of it he raves about it, that elements that were previously pretty well buried in the mix are finally brought forward.
Myself, I'm on the fence about it.
I got remastered copies of "Axis Bold As Love" and "Beckola" in the last year and both of 'em had the bass boosted, which I always looked for when I was a teenager, the bass was never loud enough.
But it seemed to be at the expense of vocals and drums.
And I'm sure it's one more way to entice buyers who might otherwise yawn at all the outtakes and not bother buying.
Meanwhile real hardcore fans can find out exactly what they were doing 50 years ago today, they hadn't even finished mixing Pepper's yet:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/04/06/mixing-sgt-pepper-crossfades-good-morning-good-morning/
Expanded details there, too:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/2017/04/05/beatles-sgt-pepper-50th-anniversary-edition/

Click to expand...

The only remixing that was done for the 1987 original CD releases was of "Help!" and "Rubber Soul." Otherwise, there was remastering, but no remixing. As far as I know, the only other remixing of Beatles material that has been done includes "Yes It Is" for the "Anthology" project, the 2009 "songtrack" of "Yellow Submarine," and of course the music for the Cirque du Soleil show, "Love."

Most of the songs in "Love" are mashups of several songs, but "A Day in the Life" is included pretty much straight (but remixed). Much as I love the original stereo version (and I think it's the most brilliant song and recording in the Beatles' catalog, I think that the remix from "Love," with more modern stereo tracking, sounds better.

I can't wait to hear the remixes, and I'm only sorry that George Martin (who lost his hearing and then passed away) was not involved.

The 2009 versions of each album (CD) were re-mastered. Not "re-mixed", remastered. Very nicely, I might add. But I always wonder about "re-mixes" - is it a Giles Martin album or a Beatles album? How would Giles Martin know what the Beatles wanted?

Don't get me wrong, anyone who has seen my posts knows I'm a Beatles addict. But much like what Yoko has done with John's music, I have to agree with bluesy on this one. It's about money. Except for Martin's "re-mix" attempts, there's nothing here that could not be found on either the Anthology or bootlegs. I have had or have most all of these songs on bootlegs. Now, admittedly, the sound will be better on these versions than a bootleg. Maybe it's worth it just for that reason alone. And for those fans who do not have an addiction like me, this collection is great.

Here's the bible:

https://www.amazon.com/Unreleased-B...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KEJFMY1FYF2B8CBWPWXC

390 pages of every unreleased version of songs recorded by the Beatles, including at home. All available on the Internet or on eBay, etc. if you want to spend a while (and some money!). When I was much younger I searched for it all on vinyl, looking around in used records stores and sometimes head shops!

For example - if you really want the "evolution" of "A Day In The Life", it's earlier than this new collection will give you - it started when Lennon was filming "How I Won the War". Here he is in his hotel room, working on a song usually called "It's not Too Bad", which is clearly "Strawberry Fields".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ojsCipwYnY

Anyway, although I won't be buying it, I think this collection is cool, but as Quantum mentioned, where's "Carnival of Light"? Give me something new!

walrus

jeffcoop said:

The only remixing that was done for the 1987 original CD releases was of "Help!" and "Rubber Soul." Otherwise, there was remastering, but no remixing.

Click to expand...

I see now that when I made my first comment I said "remix" when I meant "remaster" about the inferior sound on so many CD when they first came out,
I was speaking generically at that point to Walter's question (which I took as "why do that, in general?", but now realize maybe he meant Pepper's specifically); about what happened to sound quality in general during the "rush to production" when CD's were introduced, and then I wasn't clear that I reverted to talking about Pepper's specifically when I mentioned my buddy's happiness with those 2009 remasters Walrus mentions.

I don't know if I'd go along with Quantum's premise that the stereo mixes were an afterthought, though.
I see it as more of a "We can offer it both ways so we should" decision.
It was a way of offering stereo to folks who had it back then. It was really taking off.
I'm sure everybody who's posted so far remembers how many records were issued both ways for a few years there, and even "simulated stereo"....ouch!!
As for the bootlegs and outtakes, I got about 5 of 'em and for the most part the material stayed in the can for very good reasons.
There's only about 10% of the material on those I'd "salvage" as being "good enough to keep around"
There's only about 5 cuts on the whole thing I'm interested in hearing, and maybe the original mono as Quantum suggests.
Some of those original mono mixes ARE better than the stereo (thinking about really early stuff).
Lot of nice extras listed, though.
Be interesting to see what kind of sales it generates.

walrus said:

The 2009 versions of each album (CD) were re-mastered. Not "re-mixed", remastered. Very nicely, I might add. But I always wonder about "re-mixes" - is it a Giles Martin album or a Beatles album? How would Giles Martin know what the Beatles wanted?

Don't get me wrong, anyone who has seen my posts knows I'm a Beatles addict. But much like what Yoko has done with John's music, I have to agree with bluesy on this one. It's about money. Except for Martin's "re-mix" attempts, there's nothing here that could not be found on either the Anthology or bootlegs. I have had or have most all of these songs on bootlegs. Now, admittedly, the sound will be better on these versions than a bootleg. Maybe it's worth it just for that reason alone. And for those fans who do not have an addiction like me, this collection is great.

Here's the bible:

https://www.amazon.com/Unreleased-B...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KEJFMY1FYF2B8CBWPWXC

390 pages of every unreleased version of songs recorded by the Beatles, including at home. All available on the Internet or on eBay, etc. if you want to spend a while (and some money!). When I was much younger I searched for it all on vinyl, looking around in used records stores and sometimes head shops!

For example - if you really want the "evolution" of "A Day In The Life", it's earlier than this new collection will give you - it started when Lennon was filming "How I Won the War". Here he is in his hotel room, working on a song usually called "It's not Too Bad", which is clearly "Strawberry Fields".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ojsCipwYnY

Anyway, although I won't be buying it, I think this collection is cool, but as Quantum mentioned, where's "Carnival of Light"? Give me something new!

walrus

Click to expand...

Absolutely right that the 2009 re-releases of the CDs (and original releases on iTunes) of the original albums were remasters, not remixes. But the songtrack of "Yellow Submarine" (the one with all the songs from the film, not the original release that just included the original songs for the film, plus the instrumental music) *was* a remix as well as a remaster. (Source: the official Beatles website). The 2012 vinyl re-issues were done from the 2009 digital remasters, unfortunately, but the 2014 mono vinyl reissues were done from the original mono master mixes--no remixing, but as close as you can get to the originals these days.

The brief promo video that's available of the remixed Pepper sounds a bit, well, odd. I'm so used to hearing the songs in a particular way, and it's definitely weird to hear them (even in excerpt form) with a more modern stereo distribution. I have a bit of trepidation about this release. But I believe it's been approved by Paul and Ringo (as well as Yoko and Olivia), and Giles Martin not only has his own career and credentials but worked with his father on the remixes for "Love," so if anyone is the "right" person to do it, well, he's one of a small handful of people who can lay claim.

I love my Beatles MONO box set!

Rick Schmidlin said:

I love my Beatles MONO box set!

Click to expand...

I love mine too. They did an amazing job of keeping each instrument distinct in the mix, despite the absence of stereo separation.

Who are the Beatles?

I am somewhat amused that in 1967, Paul was in SF and asked to meet (members of) Jefferson Airplane. Arrangements were made and they met. There were no epic jam sessions, because (eventually) Sir Paul was unwilling/unable to play the right handed instruments that were available. The relevance to this thread is that Paul had and played a tape of the then unreleased Sgt. Peppers. Marty Balin was impressed. I note that at least weed was consumed and that Jack Casady drove Paul back to his hotel. One shudders to imagine the state of bass playing 50 years later if there had been a fatal car accident.

One source is here. There is another account as recalled by Marty Balin and where my retelling differs it is because I am using Balin's account.

fronobulax said:

Who are the Beatles?
One source is here. There is another account as recalled by Marty Balin and where my retelling differs it is because I am using Balin's account.

Click to expand...

I did know about George's pilgrimage to the Haight later that year, but if I ever knew that story I'd forgotten it.
What really catches my attention though is that on April 4th 1967 Surrealistic Pillow was only about 2 months old, and the single for "Somebody to Love" was only 3 days old, and "White Rabbit" hadn't even been released on single yet.
The UK version of Pillow didn't even have "White Rabbit or "She Has Funny Cars", IMO one of the strongest offerings on a blockbuster album.
No "Plastic Fantastic Lover" either, and that one would been sure to get Paul's bass playing attention...
So one wonders just how much Paul knew about 'em when they met.
Apparently the first UK release was a mash-up of Takes Off and Pillow but I'm guessing that as known followers of pop in general it wasn't a problem for any or all of 'em to get hold of US releases besides the UK versions but one wonders if he'd ever even heard any of it before the apparently chance meeting.
Great story, thanks!

adorshki said:

I did know about George's pilgrimage to the Haight later that year, but if I ever knew that story I'd forgotten it.
What really catches my attention though is that on April 4th 1967Surrealistic Pillow was only about 2 months old, and the single for "Somebody to Love" was only 3 days old, and "White Rabbit" hadn't even been released on single yet.
The UK version of Pillow didn't even have "White Rabbit or "She Has Funny Cars", IMO one of the strongest offerings on a blockbuster album.
So one wonders just how much Paul knew about 'em when they met.
I'm guessing that as known followers of pop in general it wasn't a problem for any or all of 'em to get hold of US releases besides the UK versions but one wonders if he'd ever even heard "Rabbit" before the meeting.
Great story, thanks!

Click to expand...

While Surrealistic Pillow was the break out album, Takes Off had been out and Crawdaddy! called it the most important album of 1966. Regardless it is interesting that Paul wanted to meet them. Perhaps, as implied by the beatlesbible link, they went to the Fillmore, saw the band in rehearsal and that sparked the interest. Or maybe their fame/reputation had preceded them.

Rick Schmidlin said:

I love my Beatles MONO box set!

Click to expand...

Me too! It's how I've listened to everything pre-White Album Beatles since 2009 (excepting the songs on the #1+ video release from a couple years ago). And the White Album mono mix also has its merits.

I also have (or at least have heard) much of the extra material on the new release. But it's nice to see it released officially. The complete Take 7 of Strawberry Fields is a lovely thing, minus the jiggery-pokery done to it for Anthology 2.

-Dave-

fronobulax said:

While Surrealistic Pillow was the break out album, Takes Off had been out and Crawdaddy! called it the most important album of 1966.

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Right, but that Crawdaddy review didn't appear until end of '66*, and apparently Takes Off was never released in the UK.
I edited my original post to clarify that the UK release of Pillow was a mash-up of that and Takes Off.
One wonders if Crawdaddy was even available in England at the time, but I assume that in fact Paul was at least aware of who they were even without Crawdaddy, simply from being an active observer of his profession (pop musician).
* Since the review was supposed to be in the January '67 issue I assume it actually appeared about a month ahead of time which was quite common for magazines at the time. Comic books typically ran as much as 2 or even 3 months ahead though at the time I never knew why that was.

fronobulax said:

Regardless it is interesting that Paul wanted to meet them. Perhaps, as implied by the beatlesbible link, they went to the Fillmore, saw the band in rehearsal and that sparked the interest. Or maybe their fame/reputation had preceded them.

Click to expand...

Right, we may never know, although as mentioned the Beatles were avid followers of the pop music scene.
While editing my last post though, I realized that "Magical Mystery Tour" bears some compositional similarity to "She Has Funny Cars" as well as being strong album openers. You could easily medley 'em.
So that got me wondering, when did Paul write it?
Beatlesbible to the rescue again:
"The title track was McCartney's initial idea, based on ideas written on an overnight flight from America on 11 April, though what he took to the studio was little more than the title and three chords. He attempted to rouse the other Beatles into contributing lyrics, but their enthusiasm was low and later completed the lyrics alone."
So, did the Airplane meeting inspire "Magical Mystery Tour" the song, at least?
That's today's pet hypothesis and I'm stickin' to it.... :friendly_wink:

I was a Beatles (and solo Lennon) nerd for much of my youth and love the music still, lived in Hamburg for over a decade and worked often at the Kaiserkeller/Grosse Freiheit and the Top Ten Club.

Anyone familiar with the story of mystery acetates of "A Day in the Life" turning up in U.S. studios (Ardent/Stax and Motown) prior to Sgt. Pepper's release?
Terry Manning (later of Compass Point Studios) tells the story:
http://repforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,5997.0.html



....even more intrigue:
http://repforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,7285.msg78417.html#msg78417

Cool stuff re. the acetates. I remember Bob Olhsson (Motown engineer, mixer, etc.), way back in CompuServe days (late '80s/early '90s), mentioning the acetate he'd heard. Not sure if this was in the CS music forum or on usenet, but I used CS as my 'net portal back then…

I like this quote from the first acetate thread:
"There is a version of 'A day in the life' on the 'Lennon Legend' soundtrack CD. There are no segue/sfx and it sounds a helluva lot clearer than the Pepper CD.
"Which leads me to wonder if they mixed to stereo, then laid them all back to four-track for the segues…so I can't wait for a Sgt. Pepper remix with sound quality as good as what they've done with 'Let it Be (Naked)'."

-Dave-

Strawberry Fields Forever 5 times in a row, now this is my type of Beatles record! nice!

thanks for posting QS Dave!